This invention relates to hangers for suspending metal pipes and other conduits from wooden beams or other support members.
Conduits made from copper, iron, or other metals commonly are used to transport fluids from place to place. In use they are suspended from wooden beams or other supports by means of metal hangers that are driven into the beams.
Since the hangers customarily are of a metal dissimilar to that comprising the conduits, the probability exists of electrolytic corrosion occurring at the interface between hanger and conduit.
To prevent this, it is common practice to dip the hanger into a molten plastic having electrical insulating properties, thereby providing a plastic-coated, insulated hanger. This procedure is subject to the disadvantage that the plastic coating often is formed with voids which leave the metal exposed or covered with a very thin layer subject to wear upon working of the conduit in use. The coating also gives very little protection to the conduit against crushing. Furthermore, it is relatively expensive to apply and requires an appreciable amount of processing time.
It accordingly is the general object of the present invention to provide an electrically insulated, plastic clad hanger for metal conduits which overcomes the afore going problems; which is fast and inexpensive to manufacture; which is adaptable to continuous fabrication techniques; and which is characterized by the presence of a heavy duty, highly efficient plastic sheath.
Broadly stated, the pipe hanger achieving the foregoing and other purposes of the invention comprises a metal, stud-like shank segment and an integral metal, pipe receiving hook segment emerging with the shank segment through an inwardly facing throat. A sheath of flexible, electrically insulating plastic tubing overlies at least a portion of the hook segment. It is positioned for bearing contact with the pipe and for insulating the same from the hanger.
The plastic tubing sheath includes a substantially half-round segment overlying the throat segment of the hanger. It provides a flexible leader for threading the sheath over the hook in the manufacture of the hanger.